Voters may get say on new higher ed endowment

The Senate has passed a proposed constitutional amendment to create a fund to help institutions like the University of Houston or University of Texas at San Antonio boost their profile.

The National Research University Fund is one of several piece of legislation being debated this session designed to give Texas more than its two public (University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University) and one private (Rice University) top-level research universities.

If the House passes the resolution, voters would decide on Nov. 3 whether to create the fund. “This would be a historic move to say we’re going to create a new state-funded endowment,” said Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock.

Duncan said there is $477 million in a higher education endowment funded off and on since 1985 that would be transferred to the NRUF. The plan is to grow the fund to $2 billion over the next four or five years. It would then be available for any of seven universities that follow a pathway being established by lawmakers this session to attain the elite status.